Tate site scene of tool theft

Posted: Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Someone got a rich haul of tools from a University of Georgia construction site over the weekend, UGA police reported.

The tool-taker cut through a fence surrounding an addition to the Tate Student Center now under construction near the intersection of Baxter and South Lumpkin streets. Once inside, the thief or thieves broke a lock to get into a storage room, said UGA Police Lt. Lisa Boone.

The break-in happened sometime between noon Friday and 6 a.m. Monday, she said.

Two laser levels valued at $2,500 each, a pair of hand-held hammer drills valued at $2,000 each and a smaller hammer drill estimated at $1,000 were taken, workers told police.

Also stolen were eight hand-held radios and nine tape measures.

But the thieves did not overlook smaller, less costly tools such as a 12-foot level valued at $12, according to UGA investigators, who compiled a lengthy list of tools reported taken from the construction site.

The victims are 10 individual workers as well as the construction and engineering companies working on the student center addition, Boone said.

Although construction companies do what they can to secure construction sites, items often do "walk off," she said.

But it's less common for someone to cut through a fence and break into a locked storage building, she said.

Police entered identifying information for many of the stolen items into the National Crime Information Center database, so they might be found if someone takes them to a pawnshop, Boone said.

"If you have tools, write your serial numbers down or engrave your initials on them," she said. "If they do show up in a pawn shop, it gives the police something to go on."